He Said, She Said: Sex, Social Networks, and Voting Behavior

This paper examines how interpersonal social networks relate to the voting behavior of men and women. We argue that underlying the gender gap in voting is related to social processes that depend on the partisan and sex composition of networks. Analysis of the 2000 American National Election Study id...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American politics research 2013-11, Vol.41 (6), p.1102-1123
Main Authors: McClurg, Scott D., Wade, Michelle L., Wright-Phillips, Maja V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Females
Gender
Gender differences
Network Analysis
Networks
Partisanship
Political Attitudes
Political behavior
Political opinions
Sex
Sex differentiation
Social Factors
Social Networks
U.S.A
Voting
Voting Behavior
Voting turnout
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Summary:This paper examines how interpersonal social networks relate to the voting behavior of men and women. We argue that underlying the gender gap in voting is related to social processes that depend on the partisan and sex composition of networks. Analysis of the 2000 American National Election Study identified two ways that sex differences are relevant to network explanations of voting behavior. First, men have more sex homophily in their networks than women. As men are more likely to be Republican than women, this leads to different discussion environments for men and women. Second, men—and not women—are more likely to share the political opinion of women discussants, but only when they are pro-Bush and the remainder of the network is also supportive. The results support a social model of voting behavior that highlights the importance of social factors (in this case sex) other than just partisan differences.
ISSN:1532-673X
1552-3373
DOI:10.1177/1532673X13491489